The present invention relates to a case, and in particular a case intended to contain and distribute products, for example products presented more or less in the form of a folded sheet, arranged in a pile inside said case.
It is also intended for an article constituting a case containing such products.
In the prior art there were cases for hygiene products made with a film or leaf of flexible plastic material enveloping the products. These cases have a median longitudinal joint along one of their major faces and a joint along each of the two edges perpendicular to the longitudinal joint.
More or less in the middle of the other major face, these cases have an opening device comprising a break-off line, for example a line already cut out, not rectilinear, and an adhesive label. Generally the label covers the zone defined inside the break-off line, and extends slightly outside said zone.
When the case is used for the first time, the label is separated from the corresponding wall. The label is unstuck from the region of the wall situated outside the break-off line and brings with it the region of the wall located inside the break-off line. This region detaches from the rest of the wall along the break-off line and then forms a closing and opening cap of a dispensing aperture. The case is re-closed, by sticking the label back in its initial position, the cap returning more or less into place in the dispensing aperture.
Patent WO96/11147 describes such a case intended to contain hygiene products arranged in piles. The objective is to reduce the surface of the adhesive label, in order to economise adhesive material. It presents a break-off line in a V shape or in the shape of part of a circle, and a label whose shape is more or less analogous, which only covers the break-off line and the lateral edges on either side of it.
In the present state of the art as in the prior art the cases have a certain number of inconveniences in common. The most important are discussed below.
In general, the opening device is placed more or less in the middle of one of their faces. It is often difficult to grip the product appearing on the top of the pile through the dispensing aperture. There is also the risk of taking out at least two products at once instead of one.
In the present state of the art the cases generally have a longitudinal joint along one of their faces, like many food packages. This joint is not aesthetic and gives the case a utilitarian appearance, unsuited to luxury products in particular, for example, wipes impregnated with prestigious perfumes.
In the previous state of the art the cases were made out of a flexible material which did not have the solidity required for certain uses, and there was a risk, for example, of tearing, particularly if the user pulled the label further than that planned by the designer of the case. The label then risked being pulled off completely and could be very difficult to re-stick completely and/or tightly.
In the previous state of the art there was also a case which could be re-closed, described in patent WO91/04920. This case was intended to improve previous cases with a hole in the front face, to allow the extraction of a handkerchief, or to replace cases with a break-off line extending as far as a sealing strip. This document proposed replacing this median hole or the shutter limited by the cut-out line and the sealing strip by an opening limited by a cut-out line extending as far as the upper edge.
This solution is not satisfactory, since the traction exerted by the flap can cause a tear along the fold forming the upper edge, especially when the traction comprises a component parallel to the fold. There is then a loss of tightness. Moreover, the upper edge of the wipes is accessible when the case is open, which can lead the user to take out the wipe not by seizing it by the median fold but by seizing it by the upper edge. This poor manipulation leads to defective hygiene and a risk of extracting several wipes. Moreover, the flap can position itself in an inclined way, which decreases the tightness of the packaging.
The aim of the present invention is to propose a product case to remedy at least some of the inconveniences of the previous state of the art.
According to a first feature of the invention, the case comprises sealing means and an opening device set on one face of the case and formed by an adhesive label and an opening cap surrounded at least partly by a break-off line. The adhesive label entirely covers the opening caps and extends beyond the break-off line which extends to the vicinity of a stop edge of the said face. The break-off line extends to the vicinity of the upper edge, without actually reaching it. The idea of vicinity depends on the size and dimension of the case. It can be considered, within the meaning of the present patent, as a distance which is lower by several percent, in particular less than 10%, of the dimension parallel to the traction axis.
The notion of xe2x80x9cwithout coming into contactxe2x80x9d is to be understood as keeping a small distance, for example less than several thousandths, in particular less than 1%, of the dimension parallel to the traction axis.
This solution makes it possible to avoid tearing the case in the event of excessive traction on the closing cap. Moreover, it keeps an upper zone in which the packaged article remains held, contrary to solutions comprising a sealing strip.
The result obtained is greater tightness and a re-closable opening which avoids the item being caught by the side. They can only be seized by the median corner.
The break-off line defines the contour of a dispensing aperture, which is situated in such a way as to overlap preferably one edge of the first item to be distributed.
Thus the user can, with one finger, select the first item appearing before taking it out easily, pulling on the central corner. Difficulties and wastage during use are thus avoided.
The zone extending between the extremities of the break-off line and the side of the case has the function of stopping the movement resulting from the traction on the label. It can be a zone belonging to the external contour of the case, or a zone formed within the external contour.
The break-off line preferably presents two extremities going more or less to the stop edge and between which the material of the case forms an articulation line for the cap.
In the different embodiments described hereinafter the face with the break-off line will be called the front face. The opposite face will be called the rear face.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, the case is made of plastic material, for example thermoformed or injected, and presents a shell forming the rear face of the case and inter-linked with a closure element by joining their respective free edges. The said closure element can be constituted of a flexible membrane, but advantageously takes the form of a second shell forming the front face of the case. In the latter case, before being joined, the two shells can be:
independent and thus joined later by their four free edges, or
thermoformed on the same sheet of plastic in such a way as to be joined by one part of this sheet making a hinge. The two shells are then joined by their three remaining free edges.
In this first embodiment, the stop edge can be an edge common to two faces of one of the shells.
According to this embodiment, the case of the invention can advantageously comprise a tongue placed in a plane parallel to that formed by the two shells. This tongue is useful for handling the case. It can also act as support for a possible hollow body.
According to this same embodiment the case can furthermore comprise means of pushing, intended to facilitate the exit of the items contained in the said case. These different elements will be described in detail further on in the description.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, the case is made from a sheet of flexible and impermeable material, for example plastic material, folded in two along a fold line in such a way as to form two more or less parallel parts. These two parts are joined together by their respective free edges.
In a first variant of the second embodiment of the invention, the break-off line is situated in the vicinity of the fold line. Preferably, the stop edge is constituted by the fold line. According to this variant, the adhesive label can be arranged in such a way as to overlap the fold line. This arrangement has the advantage of providing a label with a very high traction resistance.
In another variant of the second embodiment of the invention, the fold line is located on the edge opposite the break-off line. The adhesive label can then be placed in such a way that one edge of the label is adjacent to the edge of the case opposite the fold line; this arrangement has the advantage of being economical since it needs little adhesive material.
The label can also be formed by a return of the back part of the case onto the front part. This return overlaps the break-off line in such a way as to cover the cap. This return is possibly inter-linked by joining it to the edge neighbouring the break-off line. In addition, it is made adhesive after coating with an adhesive polymer or any other material possessing the required adhesive properties.
In a final embodiment of the present invention, the case is made from two pieces of plastic material placed in parallel planes, these two parts being joined together by their four respective free edges.
In this embodiment, the adhesive label is arranged in such a way as to overlap the edge of the case adjacent to it.
According to any one of these embodiments, the adhesive label can if needed be linked to the case by joining it, for example, to the lateral edge adjacent to it. Nonetheless any other adequate means of linkage can be envisaged.
Thus according to one or the other of the embodiments, the case has two opposite parts, joined together by lateral edges, and whose long faces are not crossed by any joining line. They remain available, for example, to receive a decorative motif or a message of the advertising type.
Traditionally, hygiene products arranged in a pile inside the case are each folded in a certain number of elementary rectangles and/or squares one of which constitutes a face of the folded item turned towards the dispensing aperture.
According to one feature of the invention, the article comprising products, especially paper products particularly in the form of a sheet such as, for example, wipes or handkerchiefs, arranged in a pile inside the distributor case with a dispensing aperture in one of -its faces, is characterised in that each product presents on one face turned towards the dispensing aperture, a prehensile corner situated in the median zone of its front item to be distributed is positioned in front of the dispensing aperture of the case.
Advantageously, the prehensile corners located on the products can have a boarder whose colour differs from that of the hygiene products.
The user can thus tell at a glance the precise place where he should take hold of the product.